The Least Terns have spread along the river to nest in areas
which they appear to prefer over Zink Island; more birds appear to be using the
71st. Street sandbanks, but the width of the river precludes an accurate
accounting from the eastern shore.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of the breeding survey is to ascertain the
success of the current year breeding season with previous years and so assist
the local office of the US Fish and Wildlife Services, with whom we continue to
enjoy a useful and friendly relationship of many years, to determine the
progress of this endangered and protected species. From the count made by our
team of volunteer observers, it would appear that the numbers continue to
decline. However, it has been seen that the Least Terns have spread along the
Arkansas River to enjoy new areas where a combination of additional silting of
the river bed and low water levels has created nesting areas apparently more
attractive to the Terns than the original location. Some of these new areas
appear to be very susceptible to inundation in the event of small changes in the
level of the river. Fortunately, there were no events of this sort during the
present season.

NARRATIVE

The survey extended from May 27th. Through to August 2nd. In
the Zink Island area.

Early rainfall in the Tulsa area and the large number of
Canada Geese gathering in the Zink Island area created ideal conditions for a
large growth of vegetation. This not only made it difficult for our observing
team, but also seemed to deter the birds from nesting on the island.

The sand bank south of the 71st. Street bridge has extended
in area in a direction towards the west bank of the river since last year.
Officers of the US Fish and Wild-Life Services reported more birds, to be
nesting on the western side of the bank than we could see from our observing
position in Helmerich Park. The numbers we counted being much lower than those
made by USF&WS officers visiting the area by boat, it was decided to
discontinue our observations in this area from July 7th.

The author tried to find an alternative observation point,
but it was much too dangerous to attempt to park on the south side shoulder of
the bridge and no access by public road could be found on the west bank of the
river.

One of the new areas where the Terns nested is the reach
contained between the bridges close to 51st. and 41st. Streets. Unfortunately
there is no convenient car parking space in this area. And here also, the
vegetation on the river bank makes observation and an accurate count difficult.
In order to obtain an accurate number, an observer needs to be able to swing
their binoculars and count in one steady sweep, rotating either upstream or
downstream.

On a more positive note, three events are reported here for
this year, two of which may have given some indirect free publicity to our
mission and hopefully educated the general public to the importance of allowing
the Least Tern to continue to enjoy access to their habitat along the river.

On June 30th. Volunteers, including our tern observers, from
the chapter assisted officers of the FW&S to round up no fewer than 213
Geese from the Zink Island area that were then transported to a new home further
south. The operation took some two-and-a-half hours which involved the
volunteers in helping to surround the flock and gently encourage them into a
containment area from where they were loaded into trailers for their journey
south. Hopefully this will relieve the pressure on the Zink Island area for next
season.

A local TV station - KOTV, a CBS affiliate - in reporting
certain aspects of the new “Vision 2025 plan” gave a news segment, broadcast
on both the 6 and 10pm news, and repeated on Cox cable Channel 53 several times
in the same evening, in which Mr. Kevin Stubbs of the F&WLS was interviewed
concerning the possible affects of two more low water dams proposed under the
plan . Mr Stubbs was able to discuss the possible loss of Least Tern breeding
habitat caused by such developments and so alert and perhaps educate the
listening public to an environmental issue that could affect a threatened
species found within our city and county.

The other occurrence involved a sad happening when persons,
possibly ignorant of, and in contravention of the “Migratory Bird Treaty Act
of 1918”, collected some Least Tern eggs from a sandbank in the river. Shortly
afterwards, some eggs started to hatch and they finished up being brought to the
home of our member, and one of this season’s volunteers, Ms. Gail Storey, who
as you all know is a licensed wildlife rehabilitation officer. The story was
reported on the front page of “The Tulsa World” in their morning edition of
Thursday August 7. The publicity obtained was truly an example of “an ill wind
that blows some good” and we hope that more citizens are now aware of the
Least Terns and that to interfere with their nests and eggs is a serious Federal
offence.

In a follow on article, we learned that Gail had successfully
raised four birds from five which hatched out of eight eggs brought to her home.
The four birds are now to be seen in the zoo at Fort Worth., and we should
congratulate and thank Gail for her patient efforts and devotion to raising
these orphaned birds.

CONCLUSIONS

I would like to thank our volunteer team which included Jo
Lloyd, Gail Storey, Aline Romero, Bob Harwood, and Art Browning for their help
and support .

We could have used a larger roster of volunteers, even on an
“on-call” basis this year, as Aline had to drop out, due to the summer heat
. We were unable to cover every weekday and our volunteer’s vacation plans and
personal activities left days throughout the season when counts simply could not
be made

The overall figures obtained from this effort at Zink Island
appear to bear no meaningful relationship to the number of birds seen flying
over a six-mile stretch of the river and simply confirm the continued decline in
the number using Zink Island.

RECOMMENDATION

The Board should therefore consider:-

1. Are the efforts, made to count tern, producing any valid
result.

2. Should we try to cover the area from Zink Island down to
71st. Street ? This will involve a six-mile walk assuming sufficient volunteers
are available to make car pick up possible?

3. How can we interest and obtain more support from members willing to
volunteer their time, and who are physically able to carry out this task in the
summer heat